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It was an absolutely gorgeous day today in Windsor and with recent reports of some new migrants showing up, I couldn't help but go for a walk at Black Oak Heritage Park & Ojibway Park's Tallgrass Prairie in Windsor. It was exciting to see an Eastern Phoebe along with lots of Mourning Cloak and Eastern Comma Butterflies - All first of season! At Ojibway Park, I also heard Western Chorus Frogs and walked through some habitat that is good for viewing American Woodcocks. I enjoyed listening to Song Sparrows calling this afternoon as well.
At one point, I noticed a nice male Eastern Bluebird foraging in the dead leaves at Ojibway and was treat with some great views of this beautiful bird in some nice afternoon sunlight. A female was nearby as well.
I was also able to hear the call of the Western Chorus Frog this afternoon. Its hard to see them but last year at about this time, I was able to take some video footage of them singing at Ojibway Park. See video below and turn on your speakers!
Carolina Wren Query -
I've once heard that Carolina Wrens are found mainly in the SE US, but their northern range dips up into SW Ontario which is a Carolinian Deciduous Zone. I've heard that their populations increase in years where we have mild winters, then after harsh winters, their populations are cut back as they can't tolerate extremely cold winters. These temperature restrictions on birds are called "isotherms" if I'm not mistaken - The average temperature over a winter season in which a bird species can tolerate and survive in. If you look up Carolina Wren under Ebirds' Species Maps, with "this year" as the date argument and Essex County as the location argument - You can see that a few reports of Carolina Wrens have been made in 2015 --- A good sign that some have survived!
News: Preserved Wetland at Cameron Woodlot in Windsor Ontario
There is a small woodlot in Windsor (very close to where I live) that has recently been in the news. This woodlot and some surround land have been deemed as environmentally significant forest and wetlands.
http://www.windsorstar.com/story.html?id=10922946
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/province-identifies-urban-wetland-bans-development-in-south-windsor
This embedded google map is showing the location of this small urban forest that is surrounded by residential development on all sides and is continually being eroded --- Acre by Acre. I feel that it is a great thing that the province and city are doing, but at the same time, I think any private landowners that owned land for future development should be fairly compensated for their land. I would imagine undeveloped land in Windsor is worth $80K/Acre.
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Ohio Law Proposed To Reduce Algae Booms in Lake Erie
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/ohio-algae-legislation-first-step-in-improving-lake-erie-water-quality
Free ABA Birding E-Magazine
Click Here to download the PDF. There is an interesting article about Birding Tawas Point in Michigan.... I just might have to go there an check it out this May! Also, I couldn't help but notice that Windsor's Ojibway Park had a 1/2 page advertisement in this guide (see screenshot below).
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| Does this bird look like a Tufted Titmouse? |
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| Found on page 25 of the ABA's birding magazine for March 2015 |
Dwaynejava
Dwayne
ReplyDeleteCorrect terminology is "Carolinian Life Zone."
Absolutely fascinating reading on the subject can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/q4qzdkb
Lots of institutions and various government bodies royally screw up these terminologies, Parks Canada being a classic example! They regularly practice "Junk Science" in my opinion LOL.
Hopefully this link will work:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wku.edu/~smithch/biogeog/MERR1895.htm
Great news on the South Cameron site. I remember it was being brought to the attention of biologists, etc a few years ago when I was with OMNR. It is at the point where there is so little natural area left that everything is important to retain in as natural a condition as possible.
ReplyDelete